Mobile stations, such as mobile telephones, have become ubiquitous. For various reasons, however, it is undesirable to use mobile stations in certain locations. For example, for safety reasons, mobile stations should be switched off when there is a likelihood that the radio signals could interfere with equipment. The strength of the signals transmitted by a mobile station are relatively strong in the immediate vicinity of the mobile station and are typically much stronger than the signals from the base station which are received by the mobile station. For this reason, mobile stations should be switched off in airplanes, hospitals and the like. In other situations, it is desirable for mobile stations to be switched off for social reasons such as when a user is in a theatre, a business meeting and the like.
Mechanisms have been developed for a network device to automatically switch off a mobile station when the mobile station enters a location. Nevertheless, mechanisms are still needed for increasing the likelihood that these, and other, location-based services are provided to mobile stations that have more than just a fleeting association with the coverage area of the network device. This is particularly important given that such network devices are limited in the number of active connections that they can establish with mobile stations.